Who does the pope, cardinals, or priest…say the antichrist is? What biblical verses do they use to support these claims? Does this “antichrist” fulfill every aspect of the prophecy?
When you give an answer, please make sure that every aspect of the prophecy is covered and not just a few of them or most of them. Because if every aspect in fulfilled then that particular kingdom does not hold the seat of the antichrist power.
This is from the Ask An Apologist forum.
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Q: Who or what is the “anti-christ?” (
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/1990/9002qq.asp)
A: The term antichrist is mentioned only a few times in the Bible and is used in singular and plural forms, implying there will be both a particular Antichrist as well as preceding antichrists. Because of their heinous crimes, men such as Nero, Hitler, and Stalin have been termed antichrists.
In 1 John 2:18 the term implies a particular man who, before the Second Coming, will persecute the Church with a ferocity never before experienced. 1 John 2:22 tells us that anyone who opposes the Father is an antichrist. 1 John 4:3 says, “Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that, as you have heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world.”
Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna (d. cir. A.D. 156) said in his
Letter to the Philippians, “Everyone who does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is an antichrist.”
Paul’s reference to “the Lawless One” seems to be another allusion to the Antichrist. He’s described as a man who will be empowered by Satan, come forth in the end times, savagely persecute the Church, proclaim himself a god, and, through the signs and wonders he performs, be worshipped by most people living at that time.
Finally, when the time comes, the Antichrist will be destroyed by Jesus Christ when he returns in glory (2 Thess. 2:1-12).
By the way, the Church has made no formal definition on the matter, so Catholics are free to hold that the Antichrist was or will be an individual, a group of people, or a particularly wicked era. I hope this helps. Unlike some n-C communities and preachers, we Catholics do not sit around trying to define something like this because, (contrary to some preachers/teachers) the Bible has given us insufficient clues to discern this before the time comes.
Still, at every Mass we pray
"Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ."